The online fashion industry witnessed an order volume growth of 51 percent and a gross merchant value (GMV) increase of 45 percent in FY21 as compared to the previous financial year, a report by Unicommerce said on Thursday.
The faster volume growth as compared to GMV has led to a marginal decline of 4 percent in the average order value, the report titled ‘Fashion E-commerce Report’ said.
Unicommerce, an eCommerce-focused SaaS (software as a service) platform, analyzed fashion trends for the period of FY2021 and FY2020 with a sample size of over 70 million orders.
“Fashion labels have been at the forefront of re-inventing, re-strategizing, and re-aligning themselves to rapidly evolving business environments and changing consumer needs. The industry has also observed multiple retail brands establishing their niche in the e-commerce industry,” it said.
The rising adoption of D2C (direct to consumer) amongst fashion brands has helped them build a strong connection with the consumer, leading to higher growth.
The brand websites have reported 66 percent order volume growth and 77 percent GMV growth in FY2021 as compared to the previous financial year, the report said.
The strong order volume growth supported with higher GMV growth has led to a 6 percent increase in average order value, it added.
As compared to brand websites, marketplaces have reported 45 percent order volume growth and 33 percent GMV growth, with an 8 percent decline in the average order value for FY2021 – which strongly reinforces that the fashion brands are investing aggressively to build a stronger D2C presence.
Notably, the trend of shopping fashion online is getting prominent in tier-II and III cities, with 118 percent order volume growth coming from these locations driving 192 percent order volume growth.
Womenswear held the majority share of the e-commerce fashion market with a 50 percent share and reported 30 percent order volume growth in FY2021 as compared to the previous financial year.
On the other hand, the kids wear segment registered over 200 percent order volume growth and the market share significantly increased from 3 percent in FY2020 to 17 percent in FY-2021.
The menswear segment maintained consistent growth with 37 percent order volume growth and 33 percent market share in FY2021, the report said.
Casual accounted for 84 percent market share in FY21 and 49 percent Y-o-Y order volume growth in FY2021. The formal wear category saw over 100 percent order volume growth.
“Fashion segment is one of the biggest contributors to the e-commerce industry of India with the highest order volume. This report deep dives into the fashion industry to analyze the trends in the online fashion space… this report will help fashion e-tailers in understanding the changing dynamics of the fashion e-commerce industry,” Unicommerce CEO Kapil Makhija said.
